Virtual City Slideshow

Students create a virtual city using SimCity software. Be sure to read the full 2018-2019 Program Handbook in the Resources section.

Creating a virtual city is a great way for students to learn how a city develops and changes over time. In SimCity students play the role of mayor, and will see how early decisions (like where to place their roads, power plants, or industrial zones) can affect the development of their city and the well-being of their Sims. While playing, students must make tough choices that affect their city, the environment, and its inhabitants.

Not only will students explore the systems that make up a city, (how they develop and how they interact with one another), but students also consider consequences and tradeoffs as they apply to city development. The concepts that students learn while playing SimCity will benefit them as they work towards completing the project requirements.

Getting Started

Before students get started, be sure to download and review the following items:

Virtual City Requirements

Name their city after their team. (The city name and the team name must be the same!)

Complete the Virtual City Slideshow template (available formats: Powerpoint, MS Word, and Google Slides) and save their final product as a PDF before uploading.

Not add any slides to the template.

Choose a region in which to build their city. (Any region is allowed.)

Record their city's progress at two different points in time by taking screenshots that capture the layout of the city, the population size, and budget details.

Not use sandbox mode.

Create their cities in offline mode. (Note: online mode is allowed but not recommended due to past teams' experiences losing their games in "the cloud." If you choose to use online mode, set your game to "private" so no other players can modify your city.)

Turn off random disasters.

Try to build a city without using cheat codes.

Submit their final slide show as a PDF.

For more on the Virtual City, download the Program Handbook from the Resource section.